Consulting / Training / Writing

Contact me info@acgeospatial.co.uk to help with your challenges. I have been working with Geospatial data since 2002, spent 10 years' working in Oil and Gas and in recent times worked at a startup looking to harness the deluge of Geospatial data. I am now a freelancer available to work across sectors. My specialisms are shown below.

Earth Observation

There is more data than ever before. A deluge of satellite data is providing an ever great depth of information about our Earth

GIS

Geographical Information Systems are changing the way we present and interact with data

Programming

I have been processing large raster data sets for many years with Python. It presents the best way to rapidly prototype geospatial solutions. Let me train you and make you a Geospatial programming master!

Latest Blogs

If you work with Geospatial software you cannot ignore the Shapefile. Whatever your thoughts on them (and it does polarise opinion in the GIS world; look for #Teamshapefile or #switchfromshapefile), I feel that I am ultimately driven by whatever a client would prefer. More often than not that is a preference for a Shapefile. FME Read more about How many Shapefiles on my computer?[…]

I have been meaning for the last 6 months to write about Jupyter Notebooks and why they are the perfect toolbox for working with Python and Satellite Imagery. I like Notepad ++ a great deal, it is simple and easy to use and will remain my default choice for the time being for writing code. Read more about Jupyter Notebooks and Satellite Imagery[…]

I started writing these reviews last year, really to get a feel of the pace of change in Earth Observation / Geospatial today. Looking back over the year the pace has been incredible. Q1 review Q2 review Q3 review First off I want to mention https://unsplash.com. This is an excellent website supplying free images to Read more about Q4 2017 Earth Observation[…]

There are many Satellites in orbit today capable of recording video from space; there is even a camera attached to the ISS. This is a relatively new and exciting area in Earth Observation. I say new… this article is almost four years old at the time of writing. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/high-definition-video-from-space-is-available-for-purchase-finally/ What does this mean? Is anyone Read more about First steps – video from space[…]

There are a variety of ways to download Sentinel 2 data, for example here, here or here. One of the easiest ways, and it seems to at least to me the fastest, is through AWS. You can go straight to the bucket, or search and explore for data through one of the eight recommended featured Read more about Sentinel 2 level 2a data from AWS[…]

In Q4 2017 there have been at least four Earth Observation related MOOCs that I have been aware of. I have keenly followed these three: Future Learn Earth Observation EO College “Echoes in space” IEA’s Big Data (not solely focused on EO, but there is a decent part devoted to it). All this information was/is Read more about Massive Open Online Courses on Earth Observation 2017[…]

The Rub’ al Khali, also known as the Empty Quarter, is beautiful and is also massive. It is the world’s largest sand desert (also known as an erg) covering an area larger than France. If you have watched Star Wars: Force Awakens you might be interested to know that 6 months of filming took place Read more about Superpixel and Earth Observation – Intro[…]

If you have an hour (or 3) to spare then there are certainly worse things to do than to investigate the last 30 or so years of time-lapsed imagery on Google Earth Engine Timelapse. It can make for uncomfortable viewing as ice retreats or urban areas expand at a phenomenal rate. It can inform you; Read more about Building time-lapse imagery with Google Earth Engine[…]

Sentinel-5P is scheduled for launch on the 13th October 2017 from Plesetsk launch site in Russia. Its objectives are to measure Air Quality, Ozone and Surface UV and the climate – it’s the first mission for Copernicus to monitor the atmosphere. The P stands for Precursor. You can follow the launch event from the details Read more about Why is Sentinel-5P important?[…]

Another quarter has flown by so, following on from my Q1&Q2 reviews, it’s time to take a look at the main events of Q3. If you missed my Q1 or Q2 reviews they are available below. Q1 http://www.acgeospatial.co.uk/blog/earth-observation-q1-2017/ Q2 http://www.acgeospatial.co.uk/blog/earth-observation-q2-review/ Q3 2017 Here are some of the things you may or may not Read more about Q3 Earth Observation Review[…]

OpenCV is a fantastic tool for quickly processing satellite data. It is incredibly powerful and very fast. It has also just recently been updated; the full announcement is here. Previously I used Image Segmentation with the Watershed Algorithm to successfully map circular irrigation features using OpenCV. Like many geospatial/image processes (where there are multiple ways Read more about Blob detection on Satellite Imagery, using OpenCV[…]

Pan sharpening is the process of increasing the spatial resolution of an RGB (Red, Green, Blue) image. Both Landsat 8 and Landsat 7 have a 15m spatial resolution panchromatic band. The benefit of pan sharpening is clear; it allows the production of a significantly sharpened RGB image. There is plenty written about pan sharpening – Read more about Pan Sharpening Sentinel 2 with Planet data[…]